4 Jul 2014

Pacific Games organisers re-consider NZ, Aust involvement

2:30 pm on 4 July 2014

The Pacific Games Council will present a revised proposal to its membership about inviting New Zealand and Australia to take part in future games events.

In September last year council members rejected a resolution to invite foreign athletes to compete in up to eight sports in 2015.

The Executive Board was asked to re-look at the issue and come back with more information at the General Assembly in Port Moresby, which begins today on Friday.

The Executive Director of the Games Council, Andrew Minogue, says that has led to some changes.

"Last year the proposed invitation to New Zealand and Australian athletes would have been in eight sports - that's been scaled back to four. The feedback we got from our members was we should take a smaller step and we should also focus on the sports where there is quite a bit of parity between the island athletes and Australia and New Zealand - like weightlifting and rugby sevens - where you can really demonstrate a competitive balance".

The two day Assembly will also include presentations from the Vanuatu 2017 and Tonga 2019 Games teams, while the Northern Marianas is expected to be rubber-stamped as host of the 2021 Mini Games.